Power Windows (album)

Did You Know?

• The original recording had a SPARS code of DDD; a 1997 remaster is considerably louder, following the loudness war trend.
• The 1997 remaster tray features three fingerprints (light blue, pink, and lime green) with "The Rush Remasters" printed to the left.

Background and writing

After concluding their tour for Grace Under Pressure in November 1984, Rush began work on a follow-up in early 1985. Guitarist Alex Lifeson noted a conscious effort to take the strongest elements of Signals and Grace Under Pressure and capitalize on them, resulting in what he considered a more cohesive and satisfying album. In February 1985, the band relocated to Elora Sound Studios in Elora, Ontario to write and rehearse. Drummer Neil Peart wrote lyrics from the studio's farmhouse while Lifeson and frontman Geddy Lee worked on music in an adjacent barn. Peart researched the Manhattan Project for the song of the same name and had already written outline lyrics for "The Big Money", "Mystic Rhythms", and "Marathon". Lee and Lifeson assembled music from jams recorded at soundchecks and Lifeson's own tapes, with each song taking up to a week. They then worked on "Middletown Dreams", "Marathon" again, and "Grand Designs". In March 1985, Rush undertook a five-day warm-up tour in Florida to sharpen their performance and test new songs on stage. After returning to Elora, Peart finished lyrics for "Territories" and "Manhattan Project", and on the first day back began work on "Emotion Detector" after the group discussed recording a ballad. His lyrics fit the music his bandmates were working on, and the band arranged "Emotion Detector" and "Territories", assembling a demo tape of seven songs to present to producer Peter Collins.

Production

Rush recorded Power Windows from April to August 1985 across five studios with new producer Peter Collins. During warm-up gigs in Florida, the band met engineer James "Jimbo" Barton, recommended by Collins, and Peart later praised Barton's contributions. Lifeson found recording more pleasant than Grace Under Pressure, and Lee said the group decided not to hold anything back. Recording began at The Manor Studios in Oxfordshire, England, where basic rhythm tracks and keyboards were completed in five weeks. The band used a new method: recording a rough song structure to tape first, then playing live to that structure, keeping drum parts and overdubbing everything else. They used two Studer A800 24-track tape machines with an SSL console. Musician Andy Richards played additional synthesizers, using a PPG Wave 2.3, Roland Super Jupiter module, Yamaha QX-1 sequencer, Roland Jupiter-8, and Yamaha DX7. Peart's drum technician Larry Allen drove to London to collect African and Indian drums for "Mystic Rhythms" and bongos for "Territories".

Songs

"The Big Money" samples Peart's voice using an AMS sampler triggered through his Simmons drum kit. "Manhattan Project" explores the development and explosion of the first nuclear weapon; Peart had difficulty writing from an objective point of view and researched the topic thoroughly. "Marathon" was anticipated to be difficult but became one of the easiest songs to complete, incorporating a string section and choir recorded in London. Collins suggested using a choir, and the band found humour in having "pregnant women and old men sing our song". "Territories" was difficult; Peart rewrote lyrics in a more direct way after Lee found them hard to sing. It features the lyric "Better beer" as an inside joke, and Peart played without a snare drum. "Middletown Dreams" required several rewrites; Lifeson initially expressed dissatisfaction with his guitar parts but later found it satisfying. "Emotion Detector" was expected to be easy but proved more difficult; it is the only track on the album Rush has never performed live. "Mystic Rhythms" is described by Lee as the most synthetic track, with Lifeson playing an acoustic Ovation guitar that generated a synthesizer-like sound through amplification.

Critical reception

Power Windows has received mixed reviews from music critics. AllMusic's Eduardo Rivadavia retrospectively described it as Rush's coldest album, citing sparse guitar, prominent synthesizer, and clinical percussion, but also as one that rewards patience and repeated listens. Rolling Stone highlighted influences from The Police, U2, Genesis, and Siouxsie and the Banshees, concluding that the album may be the missing link between Yes and the Sex Pistols. In 2005, Rock Hard magazine ranked it number 382 in its book The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time. It appeared in the top ten of a 2014 Rolling Stone reader poll of best Rush albums. The album introduced more synthesizers into the band's sound, with the band expanding from progressive rock into art-pop blasts of angular guitar, spatial keyboards, and hyperpercussion.